Dice Mechanics
The system uses 10-sided dice for all its rolls. There are dice pool mechanics as well as simple rolls, and Exploding or Stacking dice are used. The dice rolls fall into five basic types, detailed below . __TOC__ Attribute Tests Attribute Tests are made by rolling a number of dice equal to one of your Attributes (like Agility or Presence) against a Target Number (TN) based on the difficulty of the task at hand. TNs can range from 2 (foolproof) to 12 (very difficult) or higher (nearly impossible), and are set by the Seneschal. Each individual die which equals or beats the TN is kept as a Success; the others are ignored. Any dice which roll 10 may be rerolled, adding the new result to the rolled 10. This is called Stacking (or Exploding). Any given die can keep Stacking as long as you keep rolling 10s on that die. Usually, only one success is needed to accomplish an action, though some actions may require more; likewise, the number of successes indicates the quality of the result, with one success equalling a marginal scrape-by, while four or five indicates a flawless feat. You may also gain bonuses or penalties to your Attribute (and thus to the number of dice you can roll) if the Seneschal states a particular task is easier or harder, due to circumstances, than it would otherwise be. Vocation Tests Vocation Tests are a special kind of Attribute Test, made by rolling an appropriate Attribute against the Vocational Rating (VR) of that Vocation; the VR thus acts as a Target Number. Thus, lower VRs are better than higher ones, and the lower your VR, the more accomplished you are in that Vocation. Proficiency Tests Proficiency Tests are made by rolling dice from one of your Pools of dice (your Combat Pool, Missile Pool). These dice are rolled against TNs set by your choice of weapon, maneuver, or magical invocation; more information can be found in Parts 3 and 4, below. Contested Rolls Contested Rolls, sometimes called just Contests, are made whenever two or more characters or forces are directly struggling against each other to win. Each competitor rolls their dice in an Attribute, Vocation or Proficiency Test against their own TNs, which may be identical for each or different depending on circumstances. The number of successes scored by each competitor are compared; the competitor with the most successes is the winner. The loser’'s successes are subtracted from his adversary's successes to determine the final Margin of Success. Ties will indicate varying results depending on the situation; a tie in armwrestling will mean something different from a tie in bladeplay. When in doubt, the Seneschal will make the final call. Extended Rolls Extended Rolls can be any of the four types listed above. These rolls are made for long-term, extended tasks like forging a sword, creating a spell or climbing a high cliff. An Extended Roll sets not just a TN, but a number of Required Successes, which must be accumulated over the course of several rolls. Each roll represents the passage of a set length of time – when forging a sword, each roll may represent a day’s work, while the process of spell research may require a week for each roll. These rolls take as long as they take, unless a Fumble is rolled (in which case the player must start over from scratch) or unless time runs out due to other circumstances in the game. Fumbling Sometimes Tests aren'’t just failed; they'’re completely botched. This is called Fumbling. Whenever you fail a roll (i.e. roll no successes at all) and roll two or more 1s on the dice, you have Fumbled –- not only failed, but screwed up spectacularly badly. The Seneschal will determine the exact results, based on the situation.